I know that Luckers did a lot of work on it, but ultimately, it didn't really address the Thing and it would probably be misleading for those who are trying to understand it.

What's the thing? I guess I should go look at the thread.

I intended to turn it into a study of mysterious questions in the series, and still might. I've had all manner of other things to do instead, but it's on the list. That being said, there is no confusion--the real BUT is listed as resolved and cited in bold first thing at the top of the thread. Beyond that, those elements are still of interest to many--I get PM'd quite often about elements covered in the thread.

 

Besides, I'm proud of it.

 

thisguy, the Thing was Mat's ashendarei which allowed him to escape Finndom. Peter Ahlstrom ruled it out as being the Thing by accident (but not really in uncertain terms given he later confirmed to Matt Hatch the specific area he had ruled out) very early on in the discussion, which is why it was on the list of things that the BUT wasn't supposed to be.